Anticipation

RPOV

I gazed at my reflection in the glass windows of the room, satisfied with what I saw. Beside me, Emmett wrapped a long, muscular arm around my shoulders. He gazed at me as if he were pleased with what he saw, too.

I was so relieved that I could run fast today. I never thought I'd see the day when I would be glad to be a vampire – yet the day had arrived. The outfit I had on previously was absolutely hideous – Alice was right. With my strength and speed, however, I had made it to the nearest clothing store in under thirty seconds, picked out an outfit in one minute and ten seconds, swished the credit card through, and ran at top speed back again. It was all under three minutes. All before the bell rang, too.

Well, of course Edward would know…but he'd never tell Alice.

Right? I thought the word with what I hoped was a menacing edge.

When Alice saw her credit card, though – in my haste to beat the bell, I'd grabbed the nearest available credit card, which happened to be Alice's – she would have a fit. Not because of my new outfit, but simply because I'd used her credit card.

I sighed. She was so possessive….

"All right, class, turn to page thirteen in your textbook," instructed Mr. Arlmidre – such a strange name, some students were calling him Mr. A – and turned to draw a diagram on the board. "Today, we will be reviewing material you learned in this language, up to last year. Who can tell me…?"

My thoughts wandered as I tried to look attentive, but I was utterly bored of this. I'd stopped counting how many times I'd taken high-school level Spanish…even advanced…. even A.P…. Ugh! I groaned softly as I tried desperately to keep the irritating whine of Mr. A's voice out of my head.

Emmett and I were supposedly the two "youngest" students in this class. Youngest…I suppose, given that we were sophomores that it was rather surprising to some people that we were in A.P. Spanish.

"Anything wrong, love?" Emmett asked anxiously, his voice inaudible to humans.

I shook my head. "Ugh. High school."

"The younger we are, the better," he reminded me.

"I know."

He reached over to grab my hand and stroked it soothingly. "It'll be all right."

I snorted. "Yeah. All right. Sure…why not? It's perfectly fine when I feel like committing

suicide out of utter boredom."

Em winced slightly, and I immediately felt sorry for being so harsh. I reached out to hug him quickly, reassuringly. "Sorry, Emmett…."

"It's okay," he muttered.

At times like those, I wished fiercely that I had a talent like Edward's, or Alice's. They, at least, had something else to distract them from the boring human routines. We were so

unlucky.

"Em...mett?" called Mr. A, finding the outdated name unfamiliar. The teacher wore a triumphant smirk on his face, sure that he'd caught Emmett and I zoning out in his class…oh, the horror, the horror. I fervently hoped that Em knew what Mr. A had just said. I had no idea. From the snickers that were rising from the class, however, I assumed that the question that Mr. A – or Monsieur A, he preferred us to call him – was

ridiculously rudimentary.

"Réspondez S'il Vous Plâit," replied Emmett, with not a moment of hesitation.

Mr. A looked a little taken aback. "Hmm…that's correct."

The question was most likely asking what RSVP meant. Rudimentary, indeed.

I sighed and started fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, being careful not to rip anything.

Even though we didn't look up, Emmett and I could feel the stares of the other young, inexperienced, immature sophomores. The new kids in the class were so hot, that was probably what they were thinking. Stupid, stupid technically-older-than-us people. They had absolutely no sense whatsoever of self-preservation, it seemed. It was agony to sit and do nothing…just to endure the stares like they were nothing.

Out of my periphery, I could see a cluster of girls practically swooning when they saw Emmett. I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands together in a giant fist underneath the table, out of sight. Emmett carelessly threw an arm over my shoulders again, and I took some comfort from that. The boys were throwing death stares at Emmett – the phrase if looks could kill appeared in my mind, for that seemed to be the perfect description of the looks of hate – and I wished that I could dash across the room and push a hand into their skulls.

Emmett's arm tightened in warning.

I sighed and forced myself to relax against the seat.

Gradually, the heads turned back around to the front of the classroom again, to focus on Mr. A. My shoulders sagged in relief – even I grew supremely uncomfortable under their stares.

I could have wept with relief when the ugly bell tone sounded. Emmett and I swept our books up into our arms gracefully, and were out of the room perhaps too quickly. The next period had to be better than the previous – our whole family had study hall together, since we were separated into different classes alphabetically. We could keep a "silent" conversation going for the whole period and the humans would still be totally oblivious.

Relief!

As Emmett and I headed hand in hand back to Building One for study hall, I heard Edward asking Alice something as they headed out of the same building.

"Why were you singing that silly little French song we learned in Niles West eight years ago? In Chinese?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"ALICE!"

"WHAT?!"

"What. Are. You. Hiding. From. Me?"

"You'll find out!"

At that point, the threesome came into sight. Edward's arm was around Bella's waist, hugging her to him – what else could we expect? – and Bella was listening to the exchange with a small smile on her lips.

It was still slightly difficult to repress the slight feeling, the twinge, in my heart whenever

I saw Bella, especially with Edward. I knew that it was irrational to feel that way when I had my Emmett with me and our whole family was paired up all nice and happily and nothing was happening. But still…that feeling that I harbored in my heart, unconsciously, tortured me. I couldn't stop feeling like Bella was somehow superior to me in some obvious way. Why else would Edward stare at her from the day he met her but spare no

second glance for me?

I smacked my forehead.

Edward pretended that he hadn't heard my thoughts, but I could see the furrow that his eyebrows made that he had.

Emmett grabbed my hand off my forehead. "What's wrong, Rose?"

"Ugh. Nothing," I replied.

He looked at Edward, who just looked back. Em finally gave up with a shrug, and kept walking.

"Are you serious?" hissed Edward, glancing around the room. "We haven't even bumped

into the others the whole day!"

"No kidding," murmured Alice, with that familiar far-off look in her face. "But I told you,

Edward, we would meet them at lunch. Don't undermine me."

Edward groaned. "You're so annoying," he muttered.

My nostrils flared as we walked into the study hall room. When did they last sweep this place? 2031? I watched, irritated, as specks of dust floated down on us. I started picking the dust off my clothes; I knew that that was very stupid, as no one other than us could see it, but still, it bothered me.

Edward laughed, which he turned into a cough. I shot him a death glare.

As we settled down at a table, Renesmee joined us. She sat down at the only available seat, between Jasper and I. As she put her books down, her hand brushed against mine, and I saw her mind for a moment.

Jacob. Of course her mind was on the mutt. I still hadn't completely forgiven him for getting food in my hair back before Nessie was born. Sighing, I scribbled through my worksheet, though my handwriting was close to perfect. I finished the entire three pages of math homework in that few seconds. As my hatred towards the dog continued to burn,

Edward's face became more and more amused.

Could you at least try to control your emotions? Or have you never heard of a poker face?

His face reset itself into that emotionless mask.

Emmett wrapped an arm around my waist. "Don't worry, love," he whispered in my ear.

"I won't let those new ones get you."

I kissed him back, but with a bit of exasperation. "You do know that I can take care of myself, right?"

He laughed. "Of course," he murmured. He planted a gentle kiss on my neck.

I sighed in contentment.

After tearing through my workload so far from the morning, I had nothing to do but stare at the clock again. I was aware, through my boredom, of the eyes trained on us like they had been all day, and I felt a twinge of satisfaction that everyone's eyes were on me.

Though the thoughts going through some of the boys' heads I could live without.